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Hilk i/ & 11J ®
VOL.XXII
the “(Die jwcgss" op trg south.
[By the Daughter of Jefferson Davis.]
[For The Constitution, by Miss Winnie Davis.]
There was a decided difference in the
character of the negro before and after
the war. In the former case, the mistress
was. in a measure, the architect of their
fortunes and her own. whereas, at pres
ent, both mistress and servants may be
the victims of former mismanagement.
That the preponderenee of good oyer
bad service was greater then is owing
to the longer apprenticeship and Hie
more thorough and conscientious teacher
who held sway at tiiat lime, and Hie
conviction that her relation to the ser
vant to be life-long.
The really competent mistress of a
plantation was obliged to be a judge of
human nature as well as a born educator.
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THE ••IDLE PRINCESS” AND HER BIBLE CLASS.
It was no more possible to choose the
lions-* servants from a muss o. “field
hands’’ in an ad cnptandum manner Ilian
ji would b.- to make the same selection
from amok:; .. • ■ mpany of road menders.
A girl who might he an excellent seam
stress wcn'd ci'ieii prove an extremely
poor housemaid, or a "uva-ire" in toe
dairy turnout a torment in the preserving
room-
The I.adj’ at the “Big Hoil <• 'as Nurse, I’by
anti 1 p.»lherary.
The close familiarity with her slaves
from infancy enable 1 the mistress to
judge more accurately than a. modern
housewife; tints she could adapt the per
son to the occupation with great, nicety.
This was less remarkable, as its first tittle
clothes were usually prepared either un
der her direction or by her. (Siie visited
the mother during the period of her ill
ness, ami, if the case promised to be
serious, she personally assumed the
duties of nurse. When the mother was
well enough to return to her work in
the. held tile little one became a. still
greater charge upon the lady’ up at the
"big house." Most plantations had a sort
of creche established where some trust
worthy old negress watched over the
young children in the absence of their
parents, but. as in all things else, the
« ye of the mistress was necessary to the
guardianship of her interests and theirs.
In the di; cm- -s of infancy which attack
ed the little ones, she must be at once
nurse and medical adviser, tor uti lhe
river places, and still more so further
back in the country, it was often im
possible to get tile aid of a- doctor in time
to be of much service.
There were, indeed, occasions when
medical assistance could not. be proem d
“for love or money:’’ .sometimes “the
water was up’’ and the physician couid
not pass through the swamp, and some
times. as was the case in a cholera, epi
demic, the physicians could not leave
the majority of their patients in the
towns. , . j. . . ,
\lone the master and mistress lotigat
the diseas • as best they could, going
their rounds dav and night tor more than
n month, and playing the triple parts ot
mir<e physician and apothecary until
Time themselves succumbed to Ino pest i-
The rubbing which lormed put
Os the treatment, had to be done under
weir personal superintend mce, and the
d< .ithwateh with the twitching co.nst
als. b. their share, as the negroes were
t , frightened “to stay with dead folks
out ’ the Pr ’ ,n '
c ss" was obliged to put by all thought
Ot -he danger to her beauty and do yen
. ,j wive to the stricken negroes.. Al
ttmu-’h she might have children of her
own the scarlet fever must not affright
h r when it appeared in the tpiarter. nor
m,. sle< which is as fatal to the negio
-7- 7„ the soldi-’r on his campaign.
To qualify themst Ives
r. •■tp. i’i women studied the ap.noj
: . and have for generations
proudlv maintained their rule m t tie sum
room which even now they are reluetan
to ai-dicatc in favor of the “trained nurse
of our new civilization-
The Ori, st<-H of llw Plantation-
The tight for lhe lives of her slaves
was net the greed of property the
mere professional instinct of a nil ~( -
ner -t P ert ions were enlisted; sue was
p‘,,. ~rt“stess who carried the consolations
iff religion to the dying, comforted the
bereaved and instructed the ignorant.
Though there were negroes, and mso
white, preachers often on the plantation-,
vol that part of her duty could not. be
relegated to either of these. It may be
that to many a tired and malaria-ridden
woman those long Sunday hours in - l
How She Managed Her Hospitals, Creches
and Bible Readings.
room full of darkness. hot and redolent
of the bouquet d'Africa, will be a. remin
iscence of her hardest trial.
The inability to touch their consul mces,
the readiness AAith which the miagina
tions took lire, turning into superstition,
the beauties of belief, rendered -t doubly
difficult to convey any adequate idea of
the Bible’s teaching to the mass, although
th -re were on most plantations, terlamly
on every wi 11-regulated one, souls whose
purity and simple faith ■were wonderfully
, beautiful; of half-awakened minds and
. wholly dormant consciences there were
i all too many.
A hot summer afternoon spent in ex
i pounding the story of Annanias and
Saphira, and the heinousness of lying,
| had no further effect on one plantation
i than the christening -luring the mistress’s
absence of two babies by the names
of thesel prototypes of untruth. To her
indignant protest on her return, one of
Iwr congregation answered that. “Them
came out of the Bible, and it w’d bring
the children good luck to have saints’
names.”
There were, however, graver dis
couragements which met her than those
of misapprehension in her missionary
work. Every good woman takes much
more than a mere humanitarian interest
in (he children she has reared, and it
was a, heart-breaking experience for her
to see the little girl who hail grown up
with her own (laughter drift back to the
primitive morality of her race with a
callousness and levity; 4hat was fearltil.
Then, indeed, the mistress herself stood
in direct need of the consolations of re
ligion to enable her to pass through the
dark hours in which doubt assailed her
about the methods she had pursued,
tin- word 100 much or too little which
she had spoken, and lhe dread of Laving
i in some way proved unfaithful to her
i Trust. I low nobly she did perform Iter
I task is evinced "by the condwt of the
I negroes during lhe war. when , ven that
( earthquake, which dislocated - very other
j social relation, was unable to break lit'*
I tie which bound this mother cd' her peo
! pie to her dependent children.
j If a quarrel occurred between husband
: and wife, she adjudicated it; if there was
j a light, she reconciled them t<> each other
i In every trouble of these excitable beings,
i hers was the task to comfort or eom
i mand. To her they came with their
woes and their confessions, and site often
mediated between the offender and his
punishment.
Her “House Weddings” for Iler Slaves.
She participated also in their joys, or
at least ministered to th,cm. As a rule,
j her personal servants had the minor of
a house wedding. The mistress superin
tended the preparations for the feast,
and usually gave the bridal gown and
veil, which last, was adjusted by one of
the white family with great solemnity;
lhe oriental love of pomp, even of this
simple order, made this form of marriage
much desired on plantations. But the
uelights of such a ceremony were temper
ed by the custom which rendered a “house
marriage” by special permission dev-bly
binding on lhe contracting parties, for
they were as tickle as they were emo
tional.
Beside this love of ceremonial, the ne
i groes have an admiration for long words
i That amount to a mania. On a certain
place in Mississippi they used to ask
their mistress on the eve of a ball to
read lhe dictionary to them, and when
: she came to a pollysyllabic word they
begged to have jt repeated irrespective
of meaning until they had memorized it.
or at least fixed some faint resemblance
of it in tlreir memory, which effort gave
rise to various astonishing sentences. A
’ young negro man was very prottu ot
, saving to his hostess at a tea paity in
; the quarter:
< “Ladies, the loom of your cream gives
j mv tea an angruin taste and renders it
I quite obstum.” What he meant neither
| he nor they could tell, but all the sable
sbeiety considered him very elegant.
! Suppliesu Plantation £loiim-lio><l.
-As a housekeeper the southern woman
was beyond cavil. She required a fore-
ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1893.
The Social and Intellectual Life
on the Ohl River Plantations.
sight and industry to prepare for so
many mouths unheard of in this day
of canned vegetables and fruit- In the
old time the preserving and pickling had
io be done in the torrid summer heal,
and it was a pretty sight to witness the
bright copper-colored kettles simmering
over furnaces under the open sky. witii
roses clambering everywhere overhead,
and the mistress in her delicately tinted
gown forming a strong contrast to the
maid in her bright cotton “coat,” both
busy and anxious for success.
The negroes were fond of bright colors,
and, as their clothes were of white home
spun. many were the recipes for un
fading dyes which were handed down
from mother to daughter, many the
quaint patterns for the quilts which were
precious and carefully transmitted.
The pride of every housewife was to
be well planished with silk and calico
quilts, which bore certain names, ac
cording to the arrangement of the pieces.
The old negroes boast now that “ole
miss” taught them to make a “wheel of
fortune” or a "tree of life,” or perhaps
“a lob cabin,” terms which puzzle the
uninitiated, but which mean peculiar
kinds of patchwork.
Before the Avar, much of the weaving
work had. on the larger plantations, been
discontinued, but, for some reason, the
blanket did not seem to have the same
liower to supplant the home-made quilt
as the mill-woven cotton did the home
made hand-loom weave. Indeed, t'ne day
of those household treasures is not quite
over in the remote districts. Iler life
among her dependents, I trust, lias been
demonstrated to have been no lotus
eating existence.
Added to these can's and labors, the
mistress of a plantation household must
be the relining element of the lives of
her husband and children, nor was the
duty a sinecure under the opposing in
fluence of a life of isolation and contin
ued intercourse with a- lower race; yet
these solitary women preserved and
fostered the sentiment of chivalry in
their boys ami implanted a- maidenly
modesty and stern sense of duly in their
girls, which seems to their descendants
a. nobler work than the formation of
pliolcsophical theories or the making of
books.
Southern Women Head.
Their lives were as barren of pleasures
as they were rich in vital interests. < nice,
or at most twice, a week, the cotton boat
of the place brought the mail and the
newspapers, carrying an echo of that
outer life with which they had so little
intercourse. Occasionally boxes of new
books would rente from New Orleans or
some approximate town- Almost every
family too The Ecect’ic Review or Lit
tell’s Living Age. one or two of the Eng
lish quarterlies, generally Blackwood, and
these gave them intellectual rood without
which stagnation must inevitably have
come.
'Then' were fashion papers and maga
zines, too —for was there ever a woman
without a desire to conform to he fetan
dard of comeliness of her sex?
After the fashion [dates, gowns were
fabricated which s emed counterparts of
those portrayed in the colored [dates, but
the first visit to New' Orleans or Io a
watering [dace revealed the appalling
difference between Ihe thing as it was
and insl'inctive as self-help.
I <’.<•:»* i»bot iv.’Otls.
The chief source of enjoyment was in
association with their neighbors. Like
e ery little community, the intimacy be
tween Hie families of the adjoining plan
tations was close, and only ceased to ex
ist win'll some Mo’.iii'.gue and < npnlet
sent over a boundary a. poaching negro,
a stray horse or a run-away match, inter-
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THE FLXTSIHX!; TOI'CII TO THE BRIDE,
sered with that neighborly relation which
rendered mutual assistance as natural
and instinctive as self help.
if a neighbor's corn crop proved short,
or his groceries were out before he could
supply himself, or his cows were not of
such good breed as his neigh
bor’s, a. flat boat load of
corn Avas frequently sent without
price or any sense of conferring or re
coiving an obligation; the groceries were
supplied; a cow of the coveted herd
was [ircseiited; one planter had a. horse
that pleased another, and it was present
ed to ills friend; by this interchange of
kindness, the lies of friendship were ce
mented by a sense of mutual dependence-
JArstivc
Os course, the weddings, birthday and
anniversary dinners, as well as Ihe Christ
mas and New Year's festivities, wbre
brilliant points of light in the monotony
of the planter’s life. All the comestibles
for these were prepared at home by the
w’eary Ittle house mstress, to whom her
guests’ praises of her soups, meats and
cakes were a rich reward.
The great bear hunts, too, were the
signals for general gatherings. The men
did not wear “pink,” nor had they any
“master of the hounds,” but they brought
stanch and fleet horses to the race of
their own rearing, and sturdy dogs that
only gave up the attack with their lives;
and many an anxious wife's heart bound
ed with pride as she looked at men of
her house sitting on their horses
like a part of tlm animal, and curbing
th<> most fiery of their half-broken colts
with a quiet turn of the wrist and a word
of admonition.
flow rare such an occasion as a ball
was, is shown by the fact that the guests
thought little of driving twenty miles
over thi' earth roads, dressing at the house
to which they had been invited, dancing
all night and returning home in the gray
dawn of the next morning. The hostess’
slaves, under her direction, prepared the
supper and decorated exquisitely Hie
meats and cakes; weeks before Hie day of
the entertainment, all W'ere busy with the
preparation of the good cheer, and it is
rather remarkable that Hie receipts for
fruit cakes and mince pies then in use
w'ere exactly the same as those used in
Chester, England, from which all Hie
choice wedding cake is ordered at this
day.
'To us of a later and easier-living gener
ation. it suggests a remarkably healthy
delight, in life that people should under
take so hi'avy a labor for a few' hours’
pleasure; yet the w'omen of that day still
smile over the remembered joy of those
dances, which is as sweet in their recol
lections as the perfume of dried rose
leaves.
She Kept “Open IfouKe.’’
The spice of variety was furnished to
the plantation families by the constantly
varying company of visitors that drifted
from [dace to [ilace—tlie well-developed
germ of the modern “house party,” they
brought a. fresh current of ideas and per
sonalities into the quiet, back waters.
There was continually some one “stay
ing” at a place—an elastic term which
might cover any sort of a, visit lasting
from four days to four years. These
visitors were of every rank and order
literary people, political magnates, dis
tinguished foreign travelers of all grades,
artists and literar.v men, poor relations,
emigrating families belated on the road,
journeymen in search of work, city peo
ple up for a. day, trainers and horse doc
tors employed to attend the stock, and all
the sorts and conditions of men that are
perforce given shelter in a great house
in regions where inns do not exist.
A 1 ’ these visitors, after their kind, were
i r ■ comfort able, bidden 1o a seat at
dmTtable with gentle warmth by the
Jm.-il -s. and it. was a bold servant who
veuiin-ed to show the contempt which
Hie negroes entertained for a “half
stranger,” which was equivalent with
Hum to the New York epithet of
“climber.”
Women of the Old School Were
Amid the conflicting currents that sur
rounded her from within and without
her homo, this woman of the plantation
guided Hie course of her life, lighted by a
true and uncritical faith which was won
derfully strong to boar her soul up under
the pressure of overwork, disease and re
sponsibility. Without such firm religious
belief, it would have been as difficult to
describe a southern woman of the old
school as to imagine the jasmine without
perfume.
I’artly. this was the growth of her con
ditions,'partly the outcome of the opinions
of her 'masculine environment; for no
matter how lax were the views of her
family, their respect for her was ground
ed on their unswerving belief in her
moral purity and religious othodoxy, to
which they paid the tribute of profound
silence regardless of their own philosophic
doubts. Such a. struggle with dogmas
might be a. portion of their more human
development, but she must be forever re
moved bevond all question of strife, even
iii a. moral field; for with combat camo a
suggestion of “masculinity.” which was
to lier, as to them, the lie plus ultra of
all unworthiness in woman.
i-’uil of all gentle virtues, and busy
with womanly duties as varied as they
were absorbing and arduous, she grew
in the silent places by the great river
making sweet, Hie air around her and
(Idim asJlie flowers died in her garden—
witlßno special record of her existence
save that she bad made a summer in the
lives of those blessed ones who knew her.
Winnie Davis.
FIXED WHILE YOV WAIT.
Have Your Friend's Skeleton Made Decora
tive and Useful.
mini who for over a quarter of a centmj lias
followed the jirofesdon of “articulator or.
human s.” The signboard <wer us
door bears the simple legend AL de Llanqu l ,
[’•irfumerio.” He runs this little shop jh-iii
eiimliv as a decoy, for he has found it nec
essary to ply his queer trade on the quiet.
Li the rear room the walls are decorated wun
skeletons in nil sorts of grotesque positions
Four hideous skulls grin from the posts of
the bed and close by stands a skeleton with
arms outstretched, doing duty as a eloth"s
rack, the room being lit by a lamp made ot
a skifll. which is suspemled from the ceding
with thongs of tanned human hide.
When the Knights of Pythias
i-zed some years ago the demand for skele
tons increased, as they were used to a great
extent in the lodge rooms. De IJ.anque
prospered as a consequence. The price of
.•rofotons varies according to their degree of
hardness ami whiteness. TJte genuine im :
rorted article costs anywhere from S3O to
and the domestic S2O, but Hie trade is about
jo<t in this country because they can get
up a skeleton so much cheaper in France.
There are old-teeth dealers who sell the
product of many aching jaws to these ar
lieviators for as much as a dollar a quart,
'i'hev have often to buy more than this to
get a tooth to suit, for a skeleton with a
full set of teeth is worth half again its value
otherwise.
Tlie Nicaragua Canal.
Front The New Orleans Picayune.
From the present congress nothing is to he
O-nec'od. lit' ll as to the next, nothing can be
ifelv [iredieted. But certain it is (trut the
■‘[nd must be constructed under American
ntrol and that at no distant day. It wlli
not t.e’done as a corrupt political job. but as
; ri .-it and necessary national measure, 'j'lie
demands of commerce ami of national protec
ts alike demand it. Tite trend 01 Hie world's
Political tones will drive our country to the
work Lot our statesmen take care that the
necessity for the accomplishment of the work
shall be duly recognized. Delay may prove
most dangerous.
BY T. C. HARBAUGH.
[For The Constitution.
It wus a hot summer day, and in a
dingy shop on Hie Rue I’ascarin, Paris,
a boy was mending shoes. Everything
about him betokened poverty, ami some
of his clothes seemed to hang in shreds
from his body. For all this, however,
he was a keen, bright-eyed boy. His
only companion was a demure raven,
which ivas perched on his shoulder while
he worked.
The Rue Pascarin was a narrow, dirty
street, inhabited for the most part by
very poor artisans, and from more than
one shop like the boy’s came sounds of
hammers. It was not a time for work by
many in Hie great capital of the French;
the drettti revolution w.as at its height,
and Robespierre, Hie leader of Hie reign
of terror, was stjll sending Immlreds to
the guillotine.
Little Fabien, the cobblier, could recall
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Litt!.' Fabien and “Citizen .Tacquot.”
many of his patrons ■who had bet n cart n d.
lirst io the drearv prisons and tiieuce to
the knife. There was Blacquemont, the
butcher, with whom he used to chat when
he tvi til. to the market for something for
himself and his pet; there was Antoine,
Hie little tailor, and Henri. Hie wagoner,
who cried out against the atrocities of
the terrorists when he should have re
mained silent. Ail these had felt the
great sharp knife of the guillotine, and
had found tmknown graves; and while
lie worked this warm day, -with the door
of his lit tle shop wide" open, Fabien re
called them all.
Every now and then a hoarse caw from
the raven, whom Fabien called “Citizen
Jacquot,” would cause the boy to look
up and catch sight of Hie cunning eyes
set in the black head, anil the bird would
flap his glossy wings as if delighted with
the attention.
'L'he boy and the raven had been
friends for years. Citizen .Tacquot had
belonged to a gentleman who was a de
voted royalist, and had been taught to
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“IT IS ALL OVER.” THEY CRIED. “ROBESPIERRE IS DEAD!”
repeat certain words which he was ac
customed to hear in his master’s house.
His hoarse “Long live the king Atas
frequently heard in Hie boy’s shop, and
on more than one occasion !• abien and
reproved Hie raven, saying that such ex
pressions had cost a good many people
th Ihit. lU while Citizen .Tacquot looked
abashed when rebuked, it would not be
long ere he repeated the obnoxious sen
tence and Fabien Avould sometimes shut
Hie door so as not to have Hie ravens
erv reach passers-by.
Ou this particular day the little shoe
maker tvas mending a pair of shoes for
PRICE 5 CENT
Hie wife of a butcher on the next street
back, when a shadow fell across the
threshold. The boy paused in his work,
and, looking up, beheld leaning against
the jamb a man whom he well knew.
It was Crepin, a dissolute fellow,
thought by some to be a spy for tho
terrorists, for be had a habit of turning
up among the homes on the Rue Pascarin,
and, always after itis visits, there would
be new arrests and executions among
them. If Crepin was not a paid spy, he
knew how to take care of his own head,
while nearly everybody else seemed to
be losing theirs.
The moment the raven saw the fellow
in the doorway, he flapped his wings and
cawed, “Long live the king!” to the
shoenuiker’s chagrin.
.lust at tiiat time there was no king,
for the revolutionists had sent him and
the royal family to the guillotine, and
it was death to utter a sentence like that
which had just poured from. Citizen
Jacquot’s throat.
“That’s a. royal bird, 3lonsieur Fabien.”
said Crepin with a leer. “Don’t you
know that he endangers his master by t
such words as those?”
“I don’t see tvliy he should. CTepin.
He’s but a raven, and, surely, they don’t
want the beads of such creatures.”
Crepin. continued to look at the raven,
and all at once, with muttered words, the
import of which Fabien could only guess,
he turned and passed out.
The raven delighted at the dark-faced
man’s departure, gave vent to sundry
caws of <l. light, and among them repeat
ed the sentence which had mot with such,
disapproval from the supposed“spy.
“Did you hear what Crepin said?”
cried Fabien, taking the raven from his
perch and for a moment laying aside his
work. “You shall lose your heart if you
do not cease to repeat that bad sentence.
No matter if you are a royalist. Master
.Tacquot; these are times when one
should keep one’s mouth shut.”
Citizen .Tacquot answered with a loud
caw and placed his head against the
Txty’s cheek, which was a trick of his
whenever he wanted to curry favor.
“You won’t do so again, will you?’’
asked little Fabien.
Tlie raven flew back to his old perch
with a caw which sounded something
like a promise of future good behavior,
and Hie boy returned to his work.
When the .shoe had been mended it
was laid aside and oilier 'work taken up.
Little Fabien was an orphan; he was
carrying on Hie work his father had been
engaged in, and as he was the only colx
bier on Hie Rue Pascarin, he was well
patronized by its residents.
Night was near at hand and the boy
was still at the bench, wiien the tramp
of men came down Hie street. People
courageous enough flew to their win
dows. though some of the most timid
looked out from behind tlie blinds, for
it was known that tlie soldiers were
coming to arrest some new victims.
Little Fabien did not hear them until
they reached the door which lie had
closed: but, as a heavy rap sounded, he
sprang up and wont forward.
An armed guard was outside—a guard
of rough-looking follows with fierce
mustaches. Tlie leader carried a cut
lass witii a huge iron Handle, and it was
with this that he had rapped on Fabien's
door.
“What is it?” asked the little shoe
maker of the Rue Pascarin.
The sergeant pushed his Avaj’ into the
room and drew from an inner pocket
a warrant, Avhich lie proceeded to read in
a gruff voice. It Avas an order for the
arrest of “Citizen Jacquot.”
As the name of the offender fell from
the reader’s lips, the raven perched iioav
on a. dingy beam near the rafters of the
shop, set up a caAving. during which little
Fabien's heart stood still for fear he
Avotiltl repeat the treasonable cry of "Long
live Hie king."
“Where is tho prisoner?” asked tho
sergeant, looking up from reading th®